October Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: February 6th, 2017
Where: Outside the Meeting Hall, the Far Shore (and optionally, the slopes of a recently erupting volcano)
Summary: Training and informational sessions for newly arrived gods and shinki



Gods and shinki arriving at heaven's meeting hall are, should they allow it, guided to the rear of the Meeting Hall, where a traditionally styled dojo and training ground have been made available for the day. The gods and shinki are free to take their time during this day to learn about the details of their new life from Amaterasu's shinki or from more experienced god and shinki volunteers.




Meeting Hall

God Training

Newly arrived gods are escorted into a small meeting room, with tatami floors and a stage at the front of the room where the speaker stands. A minor deity is giving the speech, and none of the white-robed shinki enter. Paper and pens are provided to all the attendees as an unsubtle suggestion to take notes on the information they're given.

The speaker delivers her welcome speech in the monotone of someone who's practiced it far too often. Hopefully no one's feeling sleepy! She adds that gods should be cautious of anyone on the Near Shore who might ask to use their shrines to visit the Heavens, and should instruct their shinki to be cautious as well. There is at least one unrecognized god who the Heavens believe to be attacking them, and another recent incursion by an unrecognized god ended in his defeat and the extinguishing of the volcano he had caused to erupt. Newly arrived gods are encouraged to discuss the information with each other and ask questions of more experienced gods, as well as instructed to guide their new shinki appropriately. They are allowed to remain in the room as long as they wish, should they want to discuss questions with each other or with more experienced gods who are here to help out.

Shinki Training

There are stacks of informational pamphlets sitting out on tables around the dojo. There are five or six white-robed shinki present, who will willingly answer any questions or instruct newcomers in the use of the borderline. They accompany their answers, or their lessons, with an explanation of what is expected of a shinki and the importance of teamwork with other shinki and with gods. Shinki are encouraged to work together to practice what they've learned and discuss their perspectives. Each of the shinki is wearing a brightly-colored sticky name tag reading HELLO, MY NAME IS ________, and all of their names appear to end with the syllable "mei."

A variety of weapons are available in the dojo for shinki and their gods to practice with, and a row of straw targets are set up along one wall. Both Sabimei and his animated straw training dummies are absent from this training session, but standard, inanimate straw targets have been lined up outside, and a few rings are laid out on the frozen ground for friendly sparring matches. (Shinki characters who are interested in learning more about the borderlines or want to learn new shinki spells or songs may approach any of the training shinki for advice or instruction. Please remember to comment on the Shinki Spells page when your character begins to learn a new spell, excluding the borderline.)

Physical Training

There is still clean-up left to work on from the volcano's eruption. Two tengu (one of whom characters might recognize as the hot springs' proprietor) have volunteered to help transport any gods or shinki who are willing to help clear trees, dig or wash away ash on roads and roofs, and repair damage to occupied temples. The abandoned temples that were damaged by the earthquake and volcano are being left to decay, although anyone who's curious about them could take the offer of a free ride to explore some of those abandoned and damaged buildings as well. Some might contain old books or mementos of the long-vanished owners; others have nothing left inside but dust, mold, and curious spirits.

Back at the training ground, characters who aren't helping clean up the Western district have the option of playing sparring games to test their reflexes. The white-robed shinki are organizing them into pairs in the marked circles and explaining the rules: each participant is given 10 seconds on offense to score a hit with any weapon of their choice, from bare hands to sparring weaponry to shinki magic, while their partner is only allowed to dodge or defend. After five rounds, the person with more points gets to declare a penalty for their partner: drawing on their face with a marker, ordering them to do something silly or embarrassing, making them fetch tea... it's up to the winner!

Rest and Refreshments

After the gods' training lecture is finished, a few of the white-robed shinki bustle back in to set up craft tables and a buffet area. This time, the theme seems to be a sweet English tea: little cakes, scones, jams, cookies, tiny finger sandwiches and a vast array of chocolates are available, as well as many different teapots, with hot water dispensers and loose tea available to let everyone brew to their own tastes as they venture in to rest or talk to their new partners.

Over on the craft tables, there's all kinds of art and craft supplies available, from construction paper to calligraphy brushes, glitter to gouache. Signs on the tables encourage gods and shinki to show their appreciation for each other with a valentine letter or card. It's a bonding exercise! There is a lot of glitter. And glue. Hopefully, no one's wearing their nice clothes.

In Summary:

• Get all the information you can handle
• Veteran new gods and shinki are welcome to volunteer showing the ropes
• Explore damaged temples or practice sparring
• Enjoy a tea and make some valentines
• Have fun~

Comments

[bakusatsuo]

[Bakugou rolls his eyes, but lets his hand fall away, grudgingly permitting the hair-ruffling to resolve itself.] Yeah, yeah. You better do the same thing yourself. If you think I can't do shit for you just 'cause I'm a kid, I'll blow you through a wall.

[wildguardian]

Yeah, well, if you don't respect my advanced age just 'cause I can't blow you through a wall, I'll pout.

[These threats seem unbalanced, but Zhao Yunlan flashes Bakugou a brief grin regardless. His emotions aren't as sunny as the smile suggests -- there's still uncertainty and distress there like a chilly undertow in their bond, but they're ebbing, bit by bit.

He'd meant what he says: there's nothing he can do about those feelings now except to ignore them. Maybe in the future he'll remember something, or there'll be another route to take, but for now, he just has to deal.

And he can.]

[bakusatsuo]

Maybe I'll respect it when you act it, dumbass. [Bakugou huffs, but it's clearly for show. There's no heat in his words, even if it's technically true that Zhao acts more like a laid-back college student than an adult.

After a few moments, Bakugou blows out a breath. He can still feel Zhao's unease, and while he knows he can't say anything to make all the fucked up aspects of being a shinki magically better, he wants to at least try to do something. Put his mind a little more at ease, maybe.]

Don't worry too much about what you do or don't remember. It's bullshit that you don't, but even without your memories, you're still the same person you were when you were alive. You still like the same things, dislike the same things, react to shit more or less the same way. So even if you're starting all over...you're still gonna more or less make the same choices, like the same things and the same people as you would have otherwise. Deku's still gonna be Deku, and we're still gonna act in a lot of the same ways around each other. Losing a ton of context isn't gonna change that. It's the same with you. If you meet somebody you knew and forgot here, then odds are you're gonna end up having the same kind of relationship with them as you would have anyway, because they're still them and you're still you. Just because you didn't deserve to lose your memories doesn't mean you can't live the same kind of life without 'em.

[wildguardian]

[Zhao rolls his eyes -- this hair-trigger teenager is lecturing him about not being mature? He's so hurt, really. That's not the important part of this conversation, though, and so he lets it go, turning to look directly at the boy.]

That's not it. My choices, my friends... sure, it bothers me that I can't know that they're the same ones I would've made if I knew everything I used to know, but I trust my instincts.

What bothers me is knowing that if there's anybody here who I meant something to -- if there's someone here who's having this conversation about me the way you're having it about your friend Midoriya -- I don't know it. They know a lot more about me than I know about myself, and I can't even know that they know it without fucking myself up good.

[In other words: it's not the self-doubt. There's not much self-doubt in Zhao Yunlan's makeup. It's the vulnerability that bothers him.]

[bakusatsuo]

So someone else might be having this kind of conversation about you. [Bakugou studies Zhao.] What about that bugs you?

[It's inquiry, not interrogation; Bakugou's tone doesn't suggest that there's anything weird or inexplicable about Zhao being bothered by this. Rather, he's just wondering what specifically he doesn't like about the idea. The not knowing whether or not it's happening? Worrying he's grieving someone who cares about him without even being aware of it? Someone else knowing him better than he knows himself?

Partly Bakugou is wondering because he naturally wants to know what kind of things eat at his shinki, but...part of it is that, if it were him, he's not sure what he'd hate about it most, and he wants to know what Zhao's take on it is.]

[wildguardian]

What, you mean, besides everything?

[He snorts. It's not funny, of course, nothing about this stupid dance is funny: shinki not allowed to remember, gods not allowed to let them in on decisions that shape their lives. Still, he laughs, because it's laugh or punch a wall, and he likes his knuckles unbruised.]

What bugs me is that I can't be part of the conversation. I can't even know it happened.

Not any more than your friend can know that this conversation's happening.

[bakusatsuo]

Well, yeah, but the only reason this conversation is happening is 'cause Deku can't fucking know about it. But that's kinda like somebody saying they don't like being forgetful 'cause it means they forget stuff. Like, yeah, nobody'd like that, but that's literally the fucking definition of the problem already so it's kind of weird to say.

I thought there might be something else. But if that's all you've got, I can't even do anything except say 'yeah, shit sucks' because there's fuck all I can do about the forgetting part of it.

[wildguardian]

Hey, don't complain to me. I'm the one who told you there was no point in talking about it. [Yunlan's shrug is elaborate, hands spread wide: there's nothing to be done. It's true. They're all helpless before that particular quirk of this afterlife.]

Anyway. It'll work out, you'll see.

[He reaches over to give Bakugou a companionable punch to the shoulder. He hasn't forgotten that the point of this conversation was talking about the new kid, and Bakugou's problems dealing with the new kid being dead, not about himself.]

[bakusatsuo]

...yeah, you did. [Bakugou has to grudgingly concede that point.] But sometimes talking about shit is the point. If it didn't help, though...then I guess you were right.

[Bakugou doesn't admit that sort of thing often, Zhao. At least not in so many words. Treasure it.

He accepts the punch to the shoulder with a huff.] ...I guess we better go to the training grounds. [Which is to say, Bakugou's emotions are - at least for the moment - stabilized enough for him to face the prospect of a dead, amnesiac Deku.]

You're staying my exemplar, by the way. Deku would be shit at it. [Admittedly, part of that is because the god Deku would have to be an exemplar to would be Bakugou, and that comes with a lot of baggage that Deku isn't even aware of...but also, Zhao's older and wiser and has proven his worth at helping Bakugou right here and now, among other things. Bakugou isn't sure how he'd transfer the title of exemplar among his shinki if he wanted to - he thinks that's at the god's discretion, although he's never looked into it - but he sees no reason to change the arrangement as it is.]

[wildguardian]

I'm old and wise. I'll look out for you. [He delivers that with a completely straight face, shoving himself up and away from the wall they'd been leaning on, and shoots Bakugou a wry half-smile.]

Guess you're right, though. Let's go. Kick me or something if you need me to distract the kid with a how-to-shinki lecture so you can get a second wind.

[bakusatsuo]

You're a dumbass. [Yeah, this is definitely just idle grousing from Bakugou as he re-establishes his prickly outer exterior.] You're just less of a dumbass than Deku is.

[He glances at Zhao, considering. Thinking over the practical challenges of dealing with an amnesiac Deku as a shinki, there's certain things he should probably mention to Zhao.] Listen up. Deku's quirk...I told you it's strong. And he started manifesting it super late. Usually most kids in my world, if they've got quirks, it shows up around the age of four, and they grow up with 'em and learn how to handle 'em. Deku's quirk only showed up last year, when we started high school. So he's still learning how to fucking control it. It was only recently back home that he learned how to use it at all without breaking his own goddamn bones; his arms are still fucked up from it. If he's forgotten everything, he's probably forgotten how to manage the quirk, or even what it is. I'm gonna have to help him re-discover the techniques he used to handle it the first time around. I dunno if you can help with his training or not; his strength isn't something normal people should mess with. But you can give him advice and shit. Make sure to help me hammer it into him that getting himself hurt just makes him fucking useless, and that he's better off figuring out how to help people without completely incapacitating himself. Try and help him brainstorm ways to channel only certain amounts of his power instead of 100%, and encourage him not to over-use his arms when they're already on the verge of irreparable damage even if he's forgotten that. You'll have plenty of excuse for that, at least one of 'em is scarred to fuck. If you wanna help me with him, the best thing you can do is help me cut off his being a dumbass 'cause he's forgotten all the important shit he's learned in training.

And keep your ears open for anybody with healing powers who can patch someone up if they break their own bones. He's probably not gonna get it right the first few times no matter what advice we give.

[wildguardian]

Less than you, too. [His tone's dry, but he's listening to the warnings Bakugou lays out for him with a serious wrinkle forming between his eyes. It sounds as if this is a problem Deku's dealt with before, especially if he's only recently learned how not to break his own bones whenever he activates his power.]

So, you think he's going to know he even has it? I had to figure out most of my own skills through trial and error. If he can do that much damage to himself, you might want to claim some one of those official shinki told you about his abilities, and clue him in before he breaks something important.

[bakusatsuo]

If he doesn't know right away, he's gonna figure it out quick. He'll end up using it the first time he tries to push himself to his physical limits, so...probably from the very first time he starts training. And it'll be bad if he doesn't know he's got enough power that he needs to hold back at all. [Which is to say, Bakugou intends to find him quickly.]

...blaming what I know on Amaterasu's shinki isn't a bad idea, though. I figured I'd just have to tell him I know 'cause I'm his god.

[Interestingly - or perhaps merely as a product of self-awareness - Bakugou doesn't object to the idea that Zhao is less of a dumbass than he is.]